What is assisted hatching?

Assisted hatching is often required to overcome the various hurdles in the natural hatching process, thereby increasing pregnancy chances. Given that during IVF, the fertilization takes place in a lab, one must understand that this alone does not constitute a positive pregnancy. The embryo fertilized in the laboratory ought to be successfully transferred and implanted into the uterus. And the implantation ought to happen naturally for the eventual detection of pregnancy.

Statistically, this rate of natural implantation is at one in every two transfers, while the same in women above 40 is at about one in every ten. Thus, it is evident that there are various challenges to implanting the embryos, and improper hatching is a prime concern.

This has been identified because it could occur due to the frozen embryos’ unusually hard shells or issues in the storage or cryopreservation that interrupt the natural hatching process. Assisted hatching is thus required to overcome these hurdles that prevent hatching, ultimately increasing chances of implantation and pregnancy.